Preliminary Accident Reports

April 2002 Issue

January 31, Chester, Conn. / Beech Bonanza

At about 18:50 eastern time, a Beech V35B crashed during a night circle-to-land instrument approach at Chester Airport. The pilot and his passenger were killed. The pilot was inbound to Chester and requested the GPS Runway 35 approach. The controller then cleared him for the approach and approved a change to the CTAF, which the pilot acknowledged. The airplane flew inbound on the approach, descending to 1,500 feet, at which point radar contact was lost due to interference with terrain. A witness saw the airplane flying parallel to the runway at about 400 feet agl, but about 1,000 feet east of the runway. It made a left turn, as though making a turn from downwind leg to base at low altitude....

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